The C19 20 mm High Explosive Armour Piercing Anti-Aircraft round exploded in the engine block. The initial explosion was the tip going off and then the unused fuel went off causing the pistons to be shot out of their housings. The bonnet flew off into the wind.

The African lost control of the vehicle as the engine exploded, he swerved off to the left, hit a wall, causing the left hand side of the car to be catapulted onto its side. Sparks flew in all directions.

Chris was thunderstruck, he looked down from the ship at the damage he had done, oh my God he thought looking at the over turned car. Gütt was looking at the wreck, the African must be dead, but it wasn't the sniper's fault he swerved, hmmm, maybe he's still alive . He decided any way to acknowledge the soldiers work.

"Good work, son, you got him!" Encourage Gütt.

"Ah, thanks, sir, I guess" said Chris.

"Pilot!" Gütt turned to the cockpit, "Get us near that wreck!"

The African regain consciousness when the ship began its decent onto his position.

"Oh shit!" He exclaimed, "I have to get out of here!" He dragged his way from the wreck, he was pretty sure his left arm was broken, so he held his pistol in his right and ran into the nearest house.

Gütt was watching this, he admired the man's determination.

"Hans!" he called, Hans stood up and walked over, "I want you and a few men to accompany me to capture this mad man."

The Ship hovered over the wreck; two Shock Troopers were on the ground almost before the ropes had even touched the ground. Hans and Gütt followed suit, the two men scanned their sectors with their rifles held high. Gütt looked around the wreck looking for clues, he then looked around for the house the African had taken...

"Ah, that one!" He said pointing to a door. No sooner had the words left Gütt's lips that a Military issue combat boot had kicked it in! Followed by two M6 Flash Bangs designed to stun rather than kill, ideal for hostage situations. The two grenades exploded and a brief high pitched wale assaulting their ears, numbing the senses, but if it was this bad out here then it was even worse inside. They rushed the door soon as they went off, flash lights on, searching for life. They found the African in a corner with his fingers in his ears and eyes closed, Gütt pointed silently to the man, the two Troopers walked over and used Quick-Ties to tie his arms and legs to together(taking little to none care for his broken arm). The man moaned in pain as they stood him up, Gütt searched the man's pockets for the vial. He found it in the mans left coat pocket in a small container, he optioned it and saw the vial of glowing blue liquid.

"The answer to our problems!" Gütt breathed, placing the container in Hans' back pack.

"Now" Gütt continued, "what is your name?" The man said his name, it meant nothing to Gütt or Hans, they had never heard of him.

"I am only another man trying to free his beloved country for the clutches of the likes of you!" He spat at Hans' boots, Hans went to swing, Gütt held his arm back.

"No, if you did that, we would be no better than he is, we'll let the Courts decide his fate," Hans nodded his head in agreement.

They led the man outside, he was the first to board the ship, they tied one of the ropes around his waist and hoisted him up, and then the others climbed the ropes.

Chris was still on the left side of the ship holding his now empty rifle, he saw the African be seated in a seat near the front of the craft, his hands and legs bound together. The ship lifted off as soon as the others were seated, they headed to the nearest MCP (Mobile Command Post) to let General Gütt Shutze get back in control of his forces. After a brief flight across the war torn city Kamind which had since become the Nation's capital city, well what was left of it...

Chris undid his safety harness and head aft to Hans and handed back the rifle.

"What did you think of it?" Hans enquired.

"A bit to complicated for my liking, I prefer the smaller calibres that hold a lot more bullets!"

"Don't we all! Anyway good work, if I don't see you again after we land I'll see you on Reach, put in a good word, get you in my squad, cause they are changing to 14 man squads instead of just 12, they want to add a snipper and spotter to each group."

"Ah, ok then Sarge," Chris sat down next to Hans, "I don't want to be a sniper though, its too hard, like its easy with an assault rifle as you don't have to see the targets face, but when sniping I choose when I want the guy to die, I just can't hack it, just put me down as a spotter or another assaulter, well better get back and see how Alison is doing." Chris gave Hans a sloppy salute and walked back to Chambers and the Sargeant.

"That your girlfriend?" asked the female Sargeant. That took Chris by surprise.

"No, no, she's my old squad's sniper, I was her spotter."

"Old squad? Where are you going?"

"To Reach, to become a Shock Trooper like you."

"How nice, maybe we can get a squad together..." Chambers was as usual listening in, he gave Chris the encouraging elbow.

"Yeah, maybe, say what's your name?"

"Oh sorry, I forgot," she gave him a look, mixed feelings in her eyes, "I'm Michelle Ripply, Sargeant, 14th Squad of the 1st Shock Troop Brigade but I suppose you knew that already though."

"Listen, I got to go check my sniper, be right back." Chris got up and walked over to Alison, he heard Chambers move into Chris' seat, and heard, "you know I'm going to Reach as well, maybe I could be in your squad..." But Chris stopped listening he phased out and asked the Medic how she was doing.

"She's fine man, I told you before, a few days and she will be fine", said the Medic checking Alison's pulse and temperature in front of Chris to show he wasn't kidding, she would be fine...

Gütt stood up from his seat next to the African who was unconscious, so he went to see Hans, he didn't say anything he just opened the Sargeant's pack and removed the precious vial, and went back to sit down. Gütt came with in 3 feet of his chair when the African snapped up and even though his hands were bound, he made an impressive hip and shoulder leap into Gütt's left hand which happened to hold the Vial. The vial fell onto the ground rolling a little bit towards the right hand door gunner, Gütt held the now 'grounded' African on the ground with his boot yelling at some men to hold him down, as soon as someone was holding him Gütt saw the vial, it was several metres away from the side gunner, Gütt started to move when the pilot's voice come over the system.

All of a sudden the ship took a sharp 45 degree right hand turn, Gütt dived for the vile, his fingers out stretched, sweet dripping down his forehead. The vile began to roll towards the open door, Gütt was going to yell to the gunner but he wouldn't be able to hear over the roar of the engines in the screaming night wind, Gütt's dive end 30 centimetres short of the door, but the vile was moving to rapidly for the old man to keep up with. Gütt tried one last bit to reach for it but it ended in defeat as Gütt's hand grasped nothing but air. The vile finally rolled out into the clear night sky, falling rapidly to the hard surface of the streets below; the vile hit the ground and the vile shattered spilling its contents into a nearby storm drain. By the time a team could be dispatched there the liquid would have dried and have been impossible to recover... all was lost.

The ship settled into a slow decent into the MCP's helipad, Gütt walked over to the African, shaking his head, suddenly looking up, his eyes a fiery glaze in the dimly lit ship.

"YOU BASTARD!" Yelled Gütt giving the African a sharp kick to the ribs, "DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOU JUST DID!?" The African made the motion to talk but feigned he couldn't because the Shock Trooper who was holding him down's size nine combat boot was choking him. Gütt gave the trooper a nod and he sat the man up, the African said something barely audible, so Gütt moved closer trying to hear... JUST WHEN THE AFRICAN LUNGE AT GÜTT'S EAR! But luckily the trooper acted quickly and grabbed the man's collar, stoping the man's teeth centimetres from Gütt's left ear.

"You cannot stop us," said the man, "with war there will always be men like me, people who know the truth, the way the universe really is, how our race is really doing up against the Covenant." Gütt exchanged a look with the trooper.

"But don't you see," said Gütt, looking at his feet, looking at his clothes, everything tonight had done to him and his men, seeing a way for him, a lowly Officer in the Army to save the human race for the coming onslaught, "you may have just destroyed our only way to win this war..."

"Better to die than suffer," was all the man said, thrusting his chest out, "you can do what you want to me but that will not changed what has been written..." A look of frustration crossed Gütt's eyes.

"I'm sick of this shit, knock him out, the brass can figure it out..." Gütt walked back and looked at the men and women who had saved his life, given their all for him, he couldn't help but feel proud that these were the elite of the elite, some of just the few who could hopefully help win the war... Give them hell, lads... When the ship finally set down the troops disembarked all walking towards the nearest barracks, hopefully for some rest, it had been a long night, several of the men took Alison over to the aid station Chris wanted to follow but he need to freshen up...